Selling to Wholesale Markets

Selling to Institutional Food Service

Institutional Food Service can include high-volume restaurants and cafeterias serving K-12 Schools, Universities and Colleges, corporate campuses, prisons, government offices, and hospitals. A huge amount of variety exists among this group of customers but they are generally serving a very high volume of prepared meals on a narrow budget. Minimizing food preparation and the cost associated with labor intensive food preparation is often a priority making pre-processing such as cleaning, chopping, slicing desirable for many customers.

Many institutional buyers must work within a well established purchasing system which can make local purchasing difficult, especially if the institution is bound by food service contracts. In addition, there is often a lack of information and misconception about whether institutions are “allowed” to buy local products. This overview of institutional purchasing requirements details the regulations that apply to institutional buyers.

Selling to Schools

Increasing concern about childhood obesity and cafeteria nutrition has sparked interest in farm to school programs.“Farm to School” can include a wide range of activities from school cafeterias buying locally grown products to use in their lunch menu to community groups organizing snack programs to introduce children to new foods outside of the lunchroom.

A plethora of materials are available on this topic. Following are a few places to start:

Selling to Grocers

Grocery Stores offer a promising mid-range wholesale market to farms. While the quantity that an average local grocery store buys may not compete with a large chain or an institutional market, their volume will likely be higher than restaurant accounts. Most stores have very limited storage space so a farm may be asked to make more numerous small deliveries rather than one large delivery. Groceries operate in a world of very slim margins, however, where customers are often simultaneously very price sensitive but expect the best, most perfect looking items. Many grocers have said that they’ll try to see anything once but if consumers don’t buy it, they will be unlikely to stock the product a second time.

Selling to Restaurants

The restaurant market might be a very good match for a farm looking for a relatively small wholesale relationship. Unless they are operating at the high capacity of institutional food service, restaurant purchases tend to be of relatively small quantity. As with institutional food service, restaurant buyers are very diverse in their needs. Some restaurants operate with a frequently changing menu that allows them to use whatever products are in season. Others have a set menu and will have more limited capacity to buy seasonal produce. Since nearly all of the produce a restaurant purchases will be prepared, chefs are sometimes more willing to buy items that are visually imperfect as long as the quality meets their expectations.